And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I am growing old too fast because of this

I remember when life was all about a club name and secret password, and dinosaur gummy recess snacks, and multiplication games, and shoe box dioramas, and cutting and glueing collages about my favourite things, and a box of brand new crayons, and pockets of change for Friday canteen, and Field Day, and playing tag in gym class, and Halloween parades, and Christmas concerts, and Picture Day, and Library day, and book orders, and class trips, and assemblies, and milk orders when you prayed to God yours wouldn’t be chunky with ice today, and Valentine cards, and class pets, and read alouds, and Pajama Day, and school plays.

Elementary life was fun.

When did life stop being about fun? Or, when did I stop having fun?

Now life is all about work, and cleaning, and to-do lists, and bills, and groceries, and deadlines, and house renos, and oil changes, and meal planning, and calorie counting, and resumes, and software upgrades, and furniture shopping, and dishwasher maintenance, and traffic jams, and preschool hunting, and bargain hunting, and forgetting to check the mailbox…again.

Where did the fun go?

It pops its’ head up every now and again but certainly not as much as it used to. Even with two kids at my heels around the clock. Most of the time, now, I am trying to accomplish something. A mere walk isn’t about the enjoyment – it’s gotta be fast-paced, it’s “for the exercise”. It’s all business. No party. No play.

I miss the fun. I don’t like being serious all of the time and thinking about all the work that needs doing. Or thinking about all of the work I am doing.

I just want to have more fun. I just wanna, I just wanna.

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

4 thoughts on “I am growing old too fast because of this”

> Andrea posted: “I remember when life was all about a club name and secret > password, and recess snacks, and multiplication games, and Art projects, > and cutting and glueing, and new crayons, and bringing money for the Friday > canteen, and Field Day, and playing tag in gym c” >

I was thinking as I was reading your words, how our “play” as children (especially as girls), often looks like the “work” you have listed above. Our dramatic play included cleaning house, cooking meals, making schedules, tending to dolls… and we found it fun! Maybe we need to be like children again and find the fun amidst the to do lists. I try to remind myself of this, especially now as a mom, because I know she’s watching me, all the time. So I readily dance around the kitchen while making dinner, as she laughs at me from her play area, and make an effort to stop and quack at the ducks on our walk, even though I’d like to hustle past the park to work off a few more calories of Halloween candy I indulged in. Thank you for the reminder of fun today. Let’s go have some!